Saber Interactive Inc. is an American video game developer and

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

founded in 2001 with headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Saber was acquired by

Embracer Group Embracer Group AB (formerly Nordic Games Licensing AB and THQ Nordic AB) is a Swedish video game and media holding company based in Karlstad. The company was established under the name Nordic Games Licensing in 2011 as part of Nordic Games Grou ...

in February 2020, making the studio a direct subsidiary. The company employs over 1,350 people.

History

Saber Interactive was founded in 2001 by Andrey Iones, Matthew Karch, and Anton Krupkin. Together they created a 3D engine from scratch, gathered a team of artists from Saint Petersburg, Russia and began working on their first game, Will Rock. After the release of Will Rock, Saber developed their proprietary game engine, Saber3D, which was used in their second title, ''

TimeShift Time shift or Timeshift may refer to: * ''Timeshift'' (TV series), a BBC documentary series * '' TimeShift'', a video game released in 2007 * Time shifting, a form of personal consumer media recording * Timeshift channel, used in the time-delayed ...

'' (2007). The Saber3D engine has since been continuously updated and evolved for use in current games. In 2010, Saber was approached by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...

343 Industries 343 Industries is an American video game developer located in Redmond, Washington, part of Xbox Game Studios. Headed by Pierre Hintze, the studio is responsible for the ''Halo (franchise), Halo'' series of military science fiction games, origin ...

to remake '' Halo: Combat Evolved'' for the game's tenth anniversary. This would be Saber's first involvement in a major franchise and COO Andrey Iones considered it "an opportunity that we couldn’t miss". To maintain the original game experience, Saber used the original engine for game play and the Saber3D engine for visuals. '' Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary'' was released on November 15, 2011 to positive reviews. Saber then assisted in 2014 on the development of '' Halo: The Master Chief Collection''. On August 1, 2016, Saber Interactive opened its first internal studio outside of Russia in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

. This was the beginning of a major international expansion, with Saber opening studios in Sundsvall, Sweden (by buying porting studio Binary Motion), and

Minsk, Belarus Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the adm ...

. CDProjekt RED partnered with Saber in 2018 on the Nintendo Switch port of '' The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Complete Edition''. The port was released on October 15, 2019 to positive reviews highlighting the performance and playability. On April 16, 2019, Saber launched ''

World War Z ''World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War'' is a 2006 zombie apocalyptic horror novel written by American author Max Brooks. The novel is broken into eight chapters: “Warnings”, “Blame”, “The Great Panic”, “Turning the Ti ...

''. The game sold over one million units in its first week of release.

id Software id Software LLC () is an American video game developer based in Richardson, Texas. It was founded on February 1, 1991, by four members of the computer company Softdisk: game programmer, programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer T ...

studio director Tim Willits joined Saber as

chief creative officer A chief creative officer (CCO) is the highest ranking position of the creative team within a company. Depending on the type of company, this position may be responsible for the overall look and feel of marketing, media, and branding associated wit ...

on August 1, 2019. In October 2019, Saber Interactive acquired Bigmoon Entertainment, a game development studio of forty people based in

Porto, Portugal Porto or Oporto () is the List of cities in Portugal, second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire concelho, municipality of Port ...

, and rebranded the studio as Saber Porto. Saber was acquired by

in February 2020 in a deal worth US$525 million. Under the deal, Saber became the fifth direct subsidiary under Embracer and maintains autonomy. Post-acquisition, Matthew Karch continues to serve as

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

and Andrey Iones as

chief operating officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the " C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if ...

. After joining Embracer, Saber became a platform for future acquisitions of other studios. In August 2020, Saber Interactive acquired

4A Games 4A Games Limited is a Ukrainian-Maltese video game developer based in Sliema, Malta. The company was founded in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2006 by three developers who departed from GSC Game World. In 2014, 4A Games moved its headquarters to Sliema, w ...

, the developers behind the ''

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'' video game series and

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, the developers of '' Insurgency: Sandstorm''. In November 2020, Saber Interactive acquired 34BigThings, Mad Head Games, Nimble Giant Entertainment,

Snapshot Games Snapshot Games is a Bulgarian video game developer headquartered in Sofia. Snapshot Games was founded in 2013 by Julian Gollop and David Kaye. Gollop is recognized for creating the '' X-COM'' video game franchise in the 1990s with '' X-COM: UFO ...

and

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. Former President and CEO of id Software, Todd Hollenshead, joined Saber as Head of Publishing on November 18, 2020. Saber and Boss Team Games announced '' Evil Dead: The Game'' during

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. In February 2021, Embracer Group announced that they acquired

Aspyr Aspyr Media, Inc. (pronounced " aspire") is an American video game developer and publisher founded by Michael Rogers and Ted Staloch in Austin, Texas. Originally founded to bring top gaming titles to macOS, the company, since 2005, has become ...

and that the developer would be a subsidiary for Saber Interactive. The day one purchase price amounts to US$100 million on a cash and debt free basis, where US$60 million is paid in cash and US$40 million is paid in newly issued Embracer B shares. An additional consideration of a maximum of US$350 million may be paid under the agreement subject to certain conditions. In June 2021, new publishing label Prime Matter announced Saber Interactive was developing a new entry in the ''Painkiller'' franchise. On June 10, 2021,

Warhorse Studios Warhorse Studios s.r.o. is a Czech video game developer based in Prague. Founded in July 2011 by Dan Vávra and Martin Klíma, the studio produced '' Kingdom Come: Deliverance'', which was released in February 2018. In February 2019, the comp ...

announced that Saber Interactive will be developing a '' Kingdom Come: Deliverance'' port for the Nintendo Switch. In August 2021, Saber Interactive acquired

3D Realms 3D Realms Entertainment ApS is a video game publisher based in Aalborg, Denmark. Scott Miller (entrepreneur), Scott Miller founded the company in his parents' home in Garland, Texas, in 1987 as Apogee Software Productions to release his game ' ...

, Slipgate Ironworks, SmartPhone Labs, Demiurge Studios, and Fractured Byte. In September 2021, Saber Interactive acquired Bytex. In December 2021, Saber Interactive acquired DIGIC Pictures and Shiver Entertainment.

Games

Subsidiaries

Notes

References

External links

* {{Embracer Group American companies established in 2001 Embracer Group Video game companies established in 2001 Video game companies of the United States Video game development companies 2020 mergers and acquisitions Companies based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida 2001 establishments in New Jersey American subsidiaries of foreign companies